I've got a 2002 Acura TL, 187k miles, automatic transmission.
Yesterday I was driving home from work and I noticed my car would start shuddering a small amount when I accelerated, usually between 30 and 40 mph. Towards the end of my commute, I noticed that my car's temperature gauge was rising quickly. I cranked the heat (the AC was on previously), and opened my windows and the gauge dropped back down to the 50% mark in short order.
I was able to get back home and I'd noticed no leaks coming from under the car, save for the AC leaking water. Recently I'd had my coolant cap blow apart and my car dumped my coolant and I needed to replace the cap. I'm at a loss for what the cause to my car shuddering during accelerating and heating up would be. My thought was along the line of the fuel filter or pump, the airflow being junked up, but I've only recently started to try and diagnose and fix my own vehicle, and I'm in over my head on this one.
Any thoughts anybody?
Please don’t double post, thanks.
Fingers crossed your head gasket is still fine.
Did it overheat during the previous event? -
No, it didn't last time I had problems, that just occured out of the blue.
The overheating is probably a bad thermostat (not opening). When was the last time you changed the trans fluid and filter?
I haven't, I bought the car last year and haven't done anything with that since.
The shuddering could be the transmission starting to fail. I mention this because 2001-2003 Acura 3.2 V6 cars had high transmission failure rate. My '03 Acura CL transmission quit at about 150K miles.
That's my fear. I certainly considered that as a possibility when it started. Anything else you think it could be regarding those symptoms?
This is only a guess as I'm no transmission expert. There are 2 lines, one for each direction of flow, that pipe trans fluid, not antifreeze, between the radiator and the transmission to cool the transmission. Even if the antifreeze and transaxle liquid are kept seaparate in the radiator, would it be possible very hot oil from a dying transmission cause coolant to overheat? You could call your local reputable transmission shop or even an Acura repair technician to discuss the symptoms and what could be the cause.